Dragonai's Spectacular Feat
Thudududuk— With a light shake of my body, the explosion debris scattered down around me like sleet. I surveyed my surroundings. 'No way...?' My judgment had been correct. No, it had exceeded my expectations. Because every single one of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers I thought would die had survived without exception.
'As expected, the combination of Dragon Tooth Soldiers and ancient magic is invincible!' Satisfied, I stretched and rose to my feet, letting out a massive dragon yawn.
"KEEEEEEEEEEERRRRGH!"
A pillar of flame over a hundred meters long shot up into the air where the dragon's yawn had been directed. And with it came an incredible scent of fire! KEEEEERRGH—!! In the original story, there would have been humans to smell the toxic gas that was sprayed so viciously, but unfortunately, none remained. Even Dragonai, who felt no sympathy for humans, had felt a twinge of sadness at that fact. But now... many people had survived by my side.
"Good heavens! What is that smell?!"
"Ugh, did the mages create some kind of anti-dragon fart bomb...?"
Watching the citizens clutching their noses, I smiled in satisfaction. 'Heh heh heh, unlike the original story, everyone survived?! Great! In that case... maybe that insane crown prince who's about to plunge the world into ruin will finally come to his senses?'
The flames of that massive explosion had come so close to severing both my three hundred elite Dragon Tooth Soldiers and my own windpipe! Even though the three hundred Dragon Tooth Soldiers had been supporting my stamina with Spirit Wave magic, the damage wasn't nonexistent. On top of that, I'd poured excessive dragon power into the barrier to protect the citizens with my already insufficient mana. As a result, all the red scales on my body had been stripped bare, and even my silver scales looked as though they had melted away. My current appearance was utterly wretched.
I spoke in a grave voice. "The power of the weapon humans invented is truly remarkable."
"I-Is that so, Dragon Emperor?"
"However, that weapon could have put you all in danger instead. If I hadn't thought to summon the Dragon Tooth Soldiers, and had simply tried to flee or block it with a barrier, you citizens might have melted away along with the buildings."
The majestic figure of a guardian deity who had stood firm to protect the citizens even amidst flames reaching tens of millions of degrees! "Khh... Dragonai-nim!!" "You threw your life away twice for us..." "Waaahhh!! From now on, I will live my entire life for Dragonai-nim!!"
Whoa, I hadn't intended to receive such excessive expectations. I had only wanted to save Seira, who was about to drive the world to ruin, from the center of that vortex. But things had changed. 'Hoh... So all of them will pledge their loyalty to me?'
I licked my lips as I gazed at the massive black outer walls visible in the distance. 'Should I just gobble up Koban City...? Kh kh kh!'
Meanwhile, contrary to my tattered outer scales, I could feel energy boiling up from within. An Elemental Dragon continues to grow through 'battle' as well. 'Is this... a level up...?' Amidst the raging explosions, I felt my lungs, where the flames had deeply penetrated, swell with an ecstatic sensation as if my fighting spirit had reached the heavens.
I grinned and spoke. "Ah. I was planning to go home and recover my stamina by soaking in a magma bath for just an hour, but now there's no need for that."
I opened my mouth wide and refined the pure flames drifting in the air into clean ether flames before devouring them. Perhaps because it was a completely combusted flame of pure fire energy, it was incomparably more delicious than the magma of Yugna Mountain. Thanks to freely absorbing that pure form of energy, my body was now fully charged with mana, and new scales had sprouted across my entire body, clad in an even sturdier, more sparkling Silver Plate and Red Scale Armor than before.
"H-Hiiiiiik...!! As expected of Dragonai-nim!!" The citizens around me were astonished. At the same time, they revered the dragon who remained unscathed despite the baptism of flames.
* * *
A massive circular radius spread rapidly without diminishing in the slightest. And clearly, a chain of explosions erupted until the toxic mushroom cloud formed smoke. The Archduke of Niberia watched. Countless innocent citizens dying with bloody tears amidst the flames... Though they were his own subjects dying under the Archduke's orders, he judged it an unavoidable sacrifice for the greater good.
"Dragonai... The master of Yugna Mountain, was it?" An Elemental Dragon that had once reigned above all races. But now the era had arrived where humans were the masters of all creation! "Uha ha ha ha...!! Because of you, I'm about to lose half the citizens of this city. Uha ha ha..."
Even at the cost of astronomical damage, he would capture the master of Yugna Mountain, Dragonai!! If he could capture him, he could write a new myth even greater than the founding king of the Lusa Kingdom. 'And if I eat the core nucleus of an Elemental Dragon, I'll obtain tremendous martial prowess...?' The source of an Elemental Dragon's power was the 『Soul Stone』 passed down through the generations of their clan. If a human ate that Soul Stone, they could gain power comparable to a dragon. Perhaps he could create an empire the size of Lusa, not just be satisfied with a single archduchy.
But even after being hit by the dragon-slaying cannons with enough firepower to destroy half the city, that dragon... was alive. Not only was he perfectly fine, but he was even showing off scales that sparkled with a glossy sheen, as if he had been fitted with brand new silver plate armor covering his entire body?! For the first time! The Archduke's eyes, filled with fear and terror, stared at the sky for a moment before dropping to his feet. "K-Kuaaak...! What am I supposed to do now?! Adjutant! Adjutant!!!"
* * *
"Khmm. This brat. I guess I need to teach him a lesson." I strode forward, loosening my massive shoulders as I approached the black fortress that appeared to be the lord's palace. Suddenly, tens of thousands of soldiers swarmed out like ants, occupying the six city roads around me and surrounding me in a hexagonal formation.
"Aah, what are you lot?" Feeling refreshed because my body was charged, I smiled pleasantly and asked. But out of nowhere, the soldiers charged at me and began slashing wildly with swords and raining arrows down upon me. While the soldiers poured down a rain of arrows with all their might, I activated my barrier. Then I lay there calmly picking my nose and looking at them with a pitiful gaze. "Hey, hey, what are you doing?" "Hey, watch out or my booger will fly off. Oops, what a pity if someone dies from getting hit by a booger. It wasn't on purpose. Sorry." "Hey, hey, but are you guys ignoring me too? Anyway, it seems like ignoring my words has become a trend among humans these days. This time, a whole group of eighty thousand is ignoring me."
But suddenly, a hot flash erupted from my eyes as I lay there briefly playing with the humans. Kiiiiiiing—! Flames were about to charge once again from those formidable mana towers! "Ohoooo! Is it time for an exciting buffet?! If you're giving more, thank you very much!" Now that I had recovered my energy, I could easily devour a few dragon-slaying cannon shots. I soared into the sky in an instant. If I made this place an epicenter of explosions any longer, innocent humans might be sacrificed.
Then the humans left on the ground began to rise up in support of the dragon, not their fellow humans. "Ooh, Dragon Emperor!" "May you surely be victorious!!" The Dragon Tooth Soldiers were at a complete loss when I, the dragon, took to the skies. The barrier that had been protecting them from the human army had disappeared. "Hey, hey! You guys just go home on your own! I'll enjoy the feast and then leave!" The Dragon Tooth Soldiers soon nodded calmly. On the other hand, the human commanders were flustered. Naturally, these were human commanders who had never met a dragon before and knew little about the world of dragons. Therefore, they were bewildered when they saw the Dragon Tooth Soldiers the dragon had left behind. They were creatures they were seeing for the first time. Though there were only about three hundred Dragon Tooth Soldiers, the pressure they exuded was considerable. They wore helmets shaped like red dragons and armor shaped like red dragon scales. However, their body shapes were truly identical to humans. But there was one peculiar point: each one stood between two to four meters tall. "What should we do, Commander?" "They're just soldiers the dragon left behind anyway. It doesn't matter. Everyone, charge!" "Hiyaaaaah—!"